


How Can I Make History With Your Choreography?

by checkerboardom



Series: The Flashpoint Paradox [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Cisco Ramon Becomes Vibe, Eobard Thawne Ruins Everything, Flashpoint (DCU), M/M, particularly for Barry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-07-27 01:24:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7597939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/checkerboardom/pseuds/checkerboardom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>By the time he arrives to work with Vanessa at his side in a dusty pink number, there's a guy in his lab that calls him by his first name with such startling familiarity that he rebuffs him before he's aware of the words leaving his mouth. </p>
<p>"Uh-uh. Don’t call me that. I don’t know you, stringbean." He snaps as he shoves carrots into the juicer that some idiotic businessman convinced him to put one of his ion batteries in. </p>
<p>His day goes quickly downhill from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Can I Make History With Your Choreography?

Cisco wakes to the sun in his eyes and a satisfying ache throughout his body, the latter of which is appreciated while the former… Not so much. He presses his face further into the cushion of his comforter and groans when it's pulled away from him. "…ive mur m'nites."

"You'll be late for the shareholders' meeting." Vanessa reminds him and Cisco stretches out his limbs before settling deeper in the plush warmth of his bed.

"They can hold their shares for five more minutes." He tells his mattress and there's a huff of frustration followed by the clatter of hangers in his closet.

"Remind me of this moment the next time I help you get laid." Comes Vanessa's voice from the closet and Cisco smiles into his pillow. There's the sound of heels against his floor before something is draped across his legs. Peeking from underneath his cocoon, he spots a navy blue suit and retreats again. "If I knew you were going to be difficult, I would've told Lisa to come instead."

"I call foul; she'd drag me out by my toes."

"Believe me, I'm tempted." Vanessa deadpans. "Get up and dressed. There's coffee in the kitchen."

She's sitting at his breakfast bar with cup of coffee in hand when he finally makes his appearance and silently points to a second cup by her elbow.

"Is Caitlin back yet?" He asks as he sips at it, a sigh falling from his lips as the flavor of caramel chases away the taste of sleep in his mouth. He'll have to brush his teeth after, but that's a small sacrifice that he's willing to make to avoid the taste of toothpaste and coffee.

"They came in from Monte Carlo last night." She glances down at her phone. "Apparently someone upgraded their air fare and hotel suite quite generously."

"I plead the fifth." Cisco flashes her a smile and she snorts. "That's what people say, right?"

"Only if they want to avoid incriminating themselves before a court of law without negative impact." She answers and when he simply stares at her, she rolls a shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. "My father was a lawyer, remember?"

"I knew you were just as scary as Lisa." Cisco says with obvious pride, a frown appearing on his face as the skin on his neck itches. He raises a hand to run light fingertips over the area and Vanessa whistles.

"You'll need concealer if you don’t want the media having a field day over who gave you beard burn." She smirks when his mouth drops open.

"Son of a bitch." He breathes, reaching for the nearest reflective object within reach. The decorative coaster makes a poor mirror, but it does a good enough job that he can clearly see the raw skin surrounding a particularly vibrant hickey. "I thought it was just on my thighs."

"And that is all I need to know on the subject." Vanessa objects. "Do you still have the stuff I bought after the model incident?"

Cisco gains a dopey look at the mention of his previous escapade with a man. He had been a modeling friend of Vanessa's with long limbs and pretty eyes and they'd spent a solid two days ensconced in a hotel room together after a modeling shoot in Moscow.

"Yeah." He says a little too happily and out of the corner of his eye he sees Vanessa shake her head with a genuine smile.

…

It takes him so long to cover up the frankly ridiculous hickey on his neck that he doesn’t have time for his contacts and has to wear glasses instead. He ends up taking a helicopter to work. And sure, some people would find that over the top, but who hasn't wanted the chance to fly over the traffic on their morning commute before? He just so happens to have it as an option.

By the time he arrives to work with Vanessa at his side in a dusty pink number, there's a guy in his lab that calls him by his first name with such startling familiarity that he rebuffs him before he's aware of the words leaving his mouth.

"Uh-uh. Don’t call me that. I don’t know you, stringbean." He snaps as he shoves carrots into the juicer that some idiotic businessman convinced him to put one of his ion batteries in.

His day goes quickly downhill from there.

…

"Knock, knock," Vanessa says as she leans around the frame of his office door.

"Has Wally woken up?" He asks instantly, rising from his seat, but she shakes her head.

"He's still out, but his vitals are strong according to Caitlin." She reports and he plops back into his chair with a groan.

"And Barry?"

"Took off after the news report came in."

"Some hero." He snorts, thinking of Wally laid up and attached to medical equipment as if he's dying. "What do I do?"

"Go to lunch and let Caitlin handle Wally. Whoever Mr. Allen is, he wants to help and I don't think he'll hurt your pet superhero."

He balks at that, her words making his skin crawl. "He's not--"

"The point," she interrupts, "Is that you're not going to be any help puttering around in your office. Act like everything's normal and let your staff handle the media."

"Small victories, right?"

"Small victories." She repeats, beckoning him up. "Lisa and I are going to lunch and you have a guest that wants to do the same."

"I thought I didn’t have any business meetings scheduled today?" He asks as he shrugs into his jacket.

"Not business. Pleasure," She gives him a coy smile. "I think you'll enjoy yourself."

His brows knit in confusion. "Who is it?"

…

When he sees who's waiting beside Lisa at the bistro down the street, he nearly turns right back around and walks out, but Vanessa simply tightens her hold on his arm and steers him to the table in the back of the establishment.

"What if someone catches us?" He hisses under his breath and she laughs.

"Then they'll see you having lunch with a fellow business man." She assures him, trading him for Lisa once they reach the waiting pair. Eobard smiles up at him and something hot and needy jolts through Cisco like electricity.

"Are you stalking me now?" He asks as  he grabs his napkin and unfolds it. He places it in his lap to give himself something to do and his date hums.

"No," The older man replies. "Believe it or not, but your friend tracked me down." He looks consternated at the thought, fingers tapping at the side of his water glass. "I didn’t think she'd be so well connected."

"Her girlfriend's brother is the mayor." Cisco informs him after one of the waiters takes their order. "Vetting the people I come in contact with isn't exactly hard. Unless of course, you don’t exist."

Eobard's fingers still at his words and Cisco's smile turns viscous. "So who are you really? Because as far as the Snarts' security team is concerned, Eobard Thawne is a ghost. You should have known better than to pick the name of a political family as your alibi."

"Or," Eobard says carefully, drawing the word out. "I was telling the truth and you're just not using that clever brain of yours to find the answer right in front of you."

"I didn’t come here to be mocked."

"And I didn’t come here to be interrogated." Eobard replies, tipping his glass off the table. In the time that it takes Cisco to so much as twitch, his hand shoots out lightning quick and retrieves it, placing it on the opposite end of the table.

Cisco looks from the glass to Eobard and blinks. "Speedster?"

Eobard smiles, satisfied and wolf-like. "In a sense. My powers aren't as strong as they used to be. Not after coming to this time."

"I slept with a metahuman…" Cisco begins, voice incredulous. "From the future?"

Eobard nods and Cisco decides that the other man looks entirely too pleased with himself.

"Why?"

"Because denying yourself what you want is boring." Eobard offers. "Or you've convinced yourself that there's nothing unnatural about you when in reality you're quite extraordinary."

"I don’t know what you're talking about." Cisco replies. Eobard laughs.

"Do you really think it was by chance that you built Ramon Industries and, subsequently, a particle accelerator in the center of the city, only to have a hero fall into your acquaintance?" He asks, tutting as if Cisco has disappointed him. "Or that you have a Time Sphere in your possession, however small it may be?"

"How did you..?" Cisco begins, trailing off when Eobard arches an eyebrow at him.

"You built a functional one in another time." He says and Cisco leans back in his chair, hands coming up to rub his temples as an ache starts to build behind his eyes.

"Stop."

"And despite what you think, last night wasn’t the first time we've been together."

"Stop!" Cisco snaps. "I get it, okay? Now what do you want?"

"The answer to that question is still the same as it was last night." Eobard waits as their food is set before them, continuing only once they're alone again. "I believe that you've made the acquaintance of Mr. Allen."

"Barry?" Cisco asks and Eobard frowns. "What about him?"

"He'll present himself to you as a hero, as someone that wants to fix things, and in the beginning, that'll be what he does." He spears an asparagus with his fork and pops it into his mouth, pausing to chew as if he has all the time in the world. "But things as they are? He'll never be able to set things right and soon he'll be playing catch up as his world, this world, unravels at the seams."

"If he's the hero in this scenario then what are you? The time police?" Cisco asks and Eobard laughs, genuinely amused.

"Oh, I'm not the villain of this story Cisco."

Cisco doesn't share the fact that he thinks Eobard isn't quite the hero either and if Eobard senses the track of his thoughts, he doesn't say anything to disprove them as they eat their lunch. In fact, he deftly turns the topic of their conversation to that of Cisco's work, seemingly content to listen to him talk about the labs. It's when Cisco mentions Caitlin that Eobard finally speaks.

"She's married?" He asks and it's Cisco's turn to arch an eyebrow.

"Were you sleeping with her too?"

Eobard's nose wrinkles in distaste. "No." He says flatly and Cisco would be lying if he said he wasn't relieved. "In the other timeline, her relationship with Ronald Raymond was cut short quite tragically. It seems that the two of them fared much better here, as did you."

"If we're so much better off as we are,  why are you so convinced that this timeline is wrong?"

"Because this isn't how time was supposed to play out. Things are," He pauses, searching for the words. "Out of place. Even you must sense that."

At his words, Cisco's head twinges and he scrunches his eyes closed as blue dances across his vision. When he opens them again, Eobard is watching him intently. "My dreams," Cisco begins. "They aren't just dreams, are they?"

Eobard's pleased look returns. "There's my clever boy."

This time the blue returns with a bolt of pain that drives tears to his eyes -- You always were quite clever Cisco -- and he gasps. "Don’t say that."

"Forgive me."

"That either." Cisco snaps and Eobard holds up a placating hand. "What was that?"

"A glimpse of another time." The other man replies. "It's quite remarkable that you've kept it at bay for this long, but it'll only get worse."

"How do I make it stop?"

"You don't." Eobard tells him. "Only Barry Allen can do that."

…

He doesn't see Eobard again for another week and within that time his dreams get worse. His head throbs at the most random words and it becomes a normal occurrence for his vision to flicker blue, images flooding his mind's eye.

Whenever he sees Ronnie he feels sadness that can only be described as grief and Lisa inspires suspicion when previously, she had been a source of friendship and security. Vanessa worries, of course she does, but he simply reassures her and asks Caitlin to run tests in secret.

"There's no meta gene in your DNA." She tells him, grabbing his arm when he turns to leave. "What's wrong?"

"I don’t know." He says and his mind echoes back with the lie. He does know. He knows with the security of someone that's had their whole world turned on it's head and it doesn’t take long for Cisco to track down the man responsible.

"You need to make this stop." He tells Eobard as soon as the speedster arrives to his home. "I can't focus like this and my friends are concerned enough with Wally without having me to worry about too."

"You're still going along with the assumption that I'm the one responsible for your misfortune."

"Barry wasn’t the one that made my vision dance blue over lunch." Cisco snaps back and for the first time, Eobard looks genuinely angry with him, crowding into his space with the speed of lightning.

"Why do you insist on defending him?" He asks, gentle as he reaches up to cup Cisco's cheek despite the frustration lacing his words.

Cisco pulls away from the touch. "Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Distract me. Or do you not think you've done enough?"

Whatever Eobard has to say in reply to that is put on hold when Cisco's phone gives a shrill ring. He fishes it out of his pocket, finger sliding over the lock as he rushes to answer it.

"Ramon,"

"Cisco, it's Wally." His chest goes tight with dread. "He woke up."

"Dios mio." He breathes, body sagging in relief at Iris' words. "I'm on my way. Tell Caitlin--"

He lets out a squawk as his feet are swept from under him, the sound ripped free by the sudden rush of air around him. He turns his head and Eobard smirks, coming to a standstill outside his labs. 

"I'm outside." He finishes lamely, hanging up on Iris before she can ask.

"We'll finish our talk once you've seen to your pet superhero." Eobard tells him, and like with Vanessa, Cisco's hair stands on end.

"Don’t call him that." He retorts but his words meet empty air.

…

"That was quick." Caitlin says when he walks into the labs and Iris pulls a face.

"Freakishly so." The journalist adds, voice suspicious.

"I was already outside when you called." Iris raises an eyebrow. "Stop profiling me. I left something in my office."

She still doesn’t look convinced, her West senses no doubt tingling, but she lets it be as Wally tries to stand up. "Oh no. You are staying in bed."

"I've been in bed for two weeks." Her brother objects and Iris pushes him back down with a hand to his chest.

"And you're gonna be there until Caitlin gets a good look at you." She finishes for him and they share a long look before Wally throws his arms around her waist, burying his face in her stomach. Iris lets out a long shuddering breath and hugs him back, fine tremors running down the length of her spine as she bites back tears.

"Don’t you ever, ever scare me like that again," She tells him and he nods, whispering apologies into her shirt.

Cisco averts his gaze, giving them privacy and Caitlin offers him a small smile as Barry bursts into the room like a miniature tornado.

"Iris, I got your call--" He begins, stumbling to a stop when he spots Wally. "Hey. What- What happened?"

"He just woke up," Iris interrupts before Wally can answer. "We can worry about that later."

"But I--" Barry tries and Iris levels him with hard look.

"Later."

"Actually I don't mind." Wally tells her, turning to Barry. "There was an emergency down town involving some dude targeting cops."

"Was it the Reverse Flash?" Barry asks. "Did he go after Joe?"

"No. Why would he--" But Cisco doesn't here the rest, his vision blossoming blue. He turns his head and he's in another part of the labs, standing before a man behind an energy field as clapping echoes in the air around him. When he looks toward the sound, he's met with the image of Harrison Wells, a smile on his face as he comes to a stop opposite of him.

"You're him." His mouth says. "The Reverse Flash."

Wells smiles at him. "You and I have never been truly properly introduced. I,"  He lays a hand against his chest and gives a short bow. "Am Eobard Thawne."

"You killed Nora Allen." Cisco feels sick, as if he's choking out the words and suddenly, he's back in the Cortex, head aching as Barry stares at him like he's seen a ghost.

"What did you say?"

Cisco shakes his head, stepping back. He feels trapped and needs to leave, but then Barry is grabbing him by the shoulders, forcing him to look at him and he can't--

He can't breathe.

Barry must see the panic in his eyes, because his grip loosens, voice soft when he asks, "What did you see?"

"He was there, the Reverse Flash, the night you're mom died. You, you saved her and now," Cisco licks his lips. "None of this is real."

"It is." Barry insists, but Cisco can hear the lie in his voice.

"Who was I before?"

"Cisco?" Caitlin asks, stepping closer. "Are you okay?"

No. No, he's not.

"You weren't supposed to remember." Barry says and Cisco wants to punch him. He wants to hurt Barry just as much as he's hurting now, because his entire life is a lie. "I couldn't let her die."

"So you threw away everything?" Cisco snaps back and there's venom in his words, angry and toxic.

Barry looks stricken. "You weren't supposed to remember." He repeats.

Cisco tears himself away, chest tight and head aching. "Get out of my lab." It's only a whisper, so he repeats it, louder this time. "Get out!"

"Cisco--"

"Don't call me that!" He echoes himself from a week ago and it's rich because he knows just as much about Barry Allen as he did then. "Only my friends call me that."

"We are friends." Barry sounds broken and the others are looking at him as if he's a stranger, but he doesn't care.

"No we aren't." He corrects him. "You saw to that when you changed the timeline. Now leave before I have you removed."

And Barry does, vanishing in a storm of lighting and leaving Cisco feeling hollow

**Author's Note:**

> Suddenly there's a plot!


End file.
